My experiences as a foodie…

Monthly Archives: July 2013

What’s not to love about eating healthy oven baked multicolored peppers on a pleasant summer evening with a good group of friends! Add a dash of Indian spices to the anti-oxidant goodness of the peppers and the heart healthy olive oil drizzled on top, and you have a winner. And then there is always the full fat cream cheese version you can make in case you like indulgence! These delicious small bite size goodies are bound to be a party hit and will leave you craving for more!!

Soften the cream cheese by keeping it out of the refrigerator for 30 mins before you start the filling. Add the minced Jalapeno into the softened cream cheese. Fold in the cumin and coriander powder into the cream cheese and set aside.

Slit the peppers lengthwise and de-seed them. Spoon in the spiced cream cheese into the peppers and lay them in rows on a baking sheet. Be careful to not over stuff the peppers and the cream cheese will overflow and melt when heated. Sprinkle bread crumbs generously over the prepared peppers. Drizzle olive oil over the peppers.

The tricky part is to not over cook or under cook the peppers. Start at 250 degrees for 10 mins, then move onto 300 for 10 more mins, watching very carefully so the stuffed cream cheese does not bubble up and spill over. Broil on low for about a minute at the very end. Serve warm.

As cliched as it may sound, I am hooked onto the food network channel. A few stolen moments away from my son, my go-to channel is the food network. I watch all shows on the food network even if the recipe is not vegetarian! One of my favorites is the show Barefoot Contessa by Ina Garten. She makes everything sound easy. Especially with per precise measurement of ingredients, one can hardly go wrong! Today’s recipe is sourced from the food network site. I can go and ahead and just link her recipe here but I will include it here for convenience! This makes an excellent starter especially for large groups of people.

Ingredients : Serves 6-8

Recipe Courtesy : The Barefoot Contessa

2 medium eggplants

1 large onion

1 red bell pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoon tahini sauce

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( I substituted regular chili powder)

3 tablespoon chopped parsely ( Can be substituted with cilantro)

1 big clove of garlic

Peel and chop the egg-plant into 1 inch cubes. Chop the onion and bell pepper into 1 inch cubes. In a large bowl, add the vegetables, olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic and chili powder and toss well till all the veggies are coated.

In an oven preheated to 400 F, roast for 35-40 minutes occasionally tossing the veggies around. Once the veggies are soft and are brown in color, pulse it in a food processor or a blender along with the tahini and lemon juice. Adjust salt and pepper. Add the parsley and mix well.